Electronic commerce is achieving widespread use. Transactions are performed everyday over the Internet and through point of sale (POS) or bank systems. Such transactions are typically performed after the person requesting access to some information is authenticated and access is given to that person's private information, such as financial, medical, or other type of restricted records. Present systems are designed to maintain the integrity of the user's credit card, debit card, and account number. However, no measures are taken to ensure the secure authentication of the user in order to prevent unauthorized access by a potential thief.
Presently, applications providing access to sensitive information are based upon information that a potential thief may appropriate with relative ease. For example, some of the information presently required to grant access to sensitive material, such as a person's Social Security Number, date of birth, or mother maiden's name, is readily available. Once a potential thief collects any two pieces of this information, the thief may obtain access to the person's financial, medical, or other private information. In addition, most secure access systems are set up to divulge a person's entire file, once they receive the appropriate password and/or correct answers to the security questions. Therefore, a potential thief may steal the person's identity and ruin that person's credit.
Further, current personal transaction devices typically do not allow the user to control the personal transaction device based on the biometric inputs by the user.